Trooper hits car on I-5 ramp

Published 9:00 pm Monday, August 21, 2006

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE – A Seattle man and a Washington State Patrol trooper were injured Monday when the trooper’s patrol car rear-ended the man’s vehicle on an I-5 on-ramp.

Leonard Whitfield’s Mazda Miata was hit by the patrol car. Whitfield, 41, was listed in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center on Monday afternoon.

Trooper Nick King, 28, who is based in King County, was released from the hospital after being treated for a head injury.

Whitfield’s Miata was crushed when the patrol car pushed it into the back of a pickup truck that was stopped ahead.

The impact knocked both vehicles more than 60 feet forward.

The trooper may have been looking ahead at another accident visible on I-5, trooper Kirk Rudeen said.

Rudeen said he didn’t know how fast the trooper was traveling.

The woman driving the pickup truck, a 54-year-old Mountlake Terrace resident, was not injured.

The onramps from 236th Street SW and westbound Highway 104 to I-5 were closed for four hours after the 8:47 a.m. accident. The State Patrol’s major accident investigation team combed the scene.

The trooper was traveling southbound in the carpool lane of the lengthy onramp and apparently drifted into the other lane, where the cars were stopped for a traffic-metering light, Rudeen said.

The trooper has been with the State Patrol since 2000, Rudeen said. He said accident investigators would forward their report to the State Patrol’s internal affairs unit.

Rudeen said he was unsure if King would return to work before the investigation is complete.

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.